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OPINION

Nunes is in way over his head

Usually our own long-serving Congressman Devin Nunes keeps a low profile not saying much, and that keeps us from having to explain his fecklessness, inept leadership and general all-around lack of effectiveness.

But that has changed. Simply by virtue of his benign longevity and quite simply by just being there, Nunes has slowly but surely risen from a quiet back bencher to the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee. Sometimes being in the right place at the right time, and being in close proximity to the right people leads to unearned success. This is one of those times.

The right time and place for Nunes was 2003 in the Tulare and Fresno counties 21st District (now the 22nd) a gerrymandered safe Republican seat. The right people were in the Bakersfield Republican machine lead by veteran House leader Bill Thomas who brought Nunes into their fold and he hasn’t disappointed them.

However, his time in Congress has been devoid of any real achievement. He did involve himself in a major and nasty fight with the Pentagon starting in 2012 trying to have a major defense installation moved from Britain to the Azores at an additional cost of $1.2 billion. Nunes bitterly called the military “clueless Pentagon lackeys ... spewing out garbage” Ultimately, he lost that three-year battle in 2015.

Apart from that, Nunes has failed to pass significant legislation, instead spending much of his time pushing unworkable water bills and ranting against climate change often saying, “global warming is nonsense.” Nunes’ failure in working with others to achieve any meaningful water legislation has been due in part to his stubborn extremist views. A third-generation dairy farmer, Nunes seems to favor protecting cows and attacking fish, views that have been the hallmark of his Congressional tenure.

Nunes has generally liked staying quiet in the background, almost as if he was well aware if his own limitations. But after successive reelections he found himself rising up the ranks, a Peter Principle example in a Republican caucus populated by a horde of ideologues without much appreciation for the intellectual art of effective governance.

But now Nunes is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee where he finds himself in the cross hairs of a serious real world challenge to our very democracy. His reaction to the many voices calling for his committee to investigate the contacts between the Trump administration and Russia will be the defining moment of his career and, unfortunately, he has already signaled failure will be his legacy.

Nunes’ current refusal to allow an investigation sadly demonstrates his short-sighted, party-before-country viewpoint. In saying, “We still don’t have any evidence of their talking to Russia” Nunes put his narrow, protect-the-President-at-all-costs viewpoint on full display for all to see. Nunes’ declaration comes without the review of any documents or investigative reports. It comes, strangely enough without calling even a single witness.

His statements, his attitude, and his inept leadership decisions, at this point are an embarrassment to all of us, especially those of us who are his constituents. He fails to accept facts we all know. General Flynn met with the Russian ambassador on numerous occasions, and he lied about it. The White House scrambled to minimize those actions, but ultimately fired him. Attorney General Sessions spoke with the Russian ambassador during the Republican convention in Cleveland and Sessions lied about that under oath and he's been forced to “amend” his statement.

At its convention, the Republican party quite unexpectedly removed criticism of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Within days, Wikileaks began its release of Hillary Clinton’s emails. It has also been revealed that Jarrod Kushner also met with the Russian ambassador after he entered Trump Tower through a private back entrance, but we haven’t heard any testimony from him yet.

Someone should convince Nunes that none of this passes the smell test. The president says that he doesn’t know anything about this. Really? Time to investigate. Call Devin.